Joe Biden
Joe Biden
What is the first step on the road to recovery if you are an addict: first admit you have a problem or something like that? Well, Afghan pres. Karzai is at least
acknowledging there was SOME fraud in the election there but he also said the results were fair. Well, ok then!
The New York Times has a good profile of the role VP Biden is playing in this debate; it includes its share of criticism of Biden.
The question of whether corruption will derail the efforts of any increased number of troops in Afghanistan is being
debated in the White House. “On Tuesday, one U.S. military official said discussions within the Obama administration are ongoing about whether it is even possible to "surge" enough troops to overcome the corruption and how crucial a legitimate government in Afghanistan is to the overall war strategy."
From NBC's Mark Murray
The vice president's office just announced that Joe Biden has arrived in Iraq. The visit comes just days after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country's largest cities. Here's the release:
Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq to visit U.S. troops and to meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai. The Vice President will reiterate the United States’ commitment to fully implement the Security Agreement and the Strategic Framework Agreement and to carry out President Obama’s plan to draw down U.S. forces. He will discuss with Iraq’s leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation’s long-term stability. This is Vice President Biden’s second trip to Iraq this year and his first as Vice President.
From NBC's Athena Jones
After his whirlwind trip through Europe and Turkey, the Obama administration today kept the focus on domestic issues, touching on veterans health care, housing, child care, and vaccinations.
Flanked by Defense Secretary
Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary
Eric Shinseki,
President Obama spoke about his trip to visit American troops in Baghdad and repeated a pledge he made often on the campaign trail: to modernize the VA and give veterans the care they have been promised and the benefits they have earned. He said the government's sacred trust with those who wear the uniform began at enlistment and must never end.
"But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment," the president said. "Too many wounded warriors go without the care that they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support that they've earned. Too many who once wore our nation's uniform now sleep in our nation's streets. It's time to change all that."
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From NBC's Mark Murray
Given that Vice President Biden is in political spotlight -- with his speech today and also his rebuttal to Dick Cheney yesterday on CNN -- Republicans have seized on another portion of that CNN interview, in which Biden talks in the first person about sending troops into combat.
Asked in the interview if the U.S. is in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban, Biden replied: "Let's get straight. The Taliban that presents an international threat to the United States of America. The bulk of the Taliban, the phrase that Richard Holbrooke and I have been using, separately but similarly, 5 percent of the Taliban are radicalized Islamists that are no different than al Qaeda."
From the transcript...
BORGER: But wouldn't you use your leverage that you have on an issue like this, which you call outrageous, the president himself has said is abhorrent?
BIDEN: Yes, but that's not -- I am not prepared to send American troops to die for that.
BORGER: OK.
BIDEN: I am prepared to send American troops to protect the United States of America to kill al Qaeda, to root out extremists and to prevent them being able to use Afghanistan once again as a platform to attack the United States of America. Do we find it abhorrent that that law exists or that it's being considered? Absolutely, positively. But we also find abhorrent what's going on in China in some places. We find abhorrent a lot of things. But the question is, if that were the only thing that existed, would we send my son and other sons there to risk their lives to die? I don't think that is a legitimate use.
"Someone want to tell Biden that HE can’t send troops anywhere?" a congressional GOP aide emailed First Read. "He’s not commander-in-chief."
To be fair to Biden, though, the original question asked him "wouldn't you use your leverage" -- which precipitated the "I" response.
From NBC's Mark Murray
In a speech today at Fort Bragg, NC, Vice President Biden welcomed home members of the 18th Airborne Corps, praising their service and other U.S. soldiers in the audience. "You are the best trained. You are the bravest. You are the most conditioned. You are the best force America has ever assembled," he said.
Biden also discussed President Obama's trip to Iraq, as well as the administration's commitment to safely turn over the country's security to the Iraqis. "Because of all the work you've done, all the work our military has done, I am absolutely confident that the Iraqis are in a much better place to take responsibility for their own security."
He later added, "It's time that they do their responsibility, not militarily alone. It's time to reconcile their political differences so they can enjoy the peace that they say they want and do want in their land."
Moreover, Biden told the soldiers in the audience that the Obama administration submitted a budget increasing funding for veterans and vet health care. "We have a lot of obligations, but only one truly sacred obligation, and that's to care for those who we send to war, and to give them everything they need when they return."
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From NBC's Athena Jones
Vice President Biden -- whom President Obama put in charge of overseeing the implementation of the stimulus package -- told the 49 out of 50 states represented at a White House conference this morning that they must spend stimulus money wisely, or risk losing help from the federal government in the future.
His tough talk seemed meant to show that, as Obama said at his recent address to Congress, "nobody messes with Joe."
"This is a crisis," Biden told the states. "It requires the exercise of discipline accountability and transparency like nothing we've ever done... I'm not kidding about that."
He continued, "The work you're doing is gonna be critical to the economic well being of the country. If we don't get this right, folks, this is the end or our ability to convince the Congress that anything should go to the states."
More from the vice president: "If six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is we've wasted money, we've built things that are unnecessary, we've done things that were legal but made no sense, then folks, don't look for help from the federal government for a long while."
Biden also said that Obama would be announcing regulations for spending recovery money on Friday. "You're gonna see regulations announced Friday by the president with me ... about things you'd ordinarily spend money on ... but won't be able to
"Here's a little hint," he added," no swimming pools in this money."
From NBC's Joel Seidman
Vice President Joe Biden presided at a ceremonial swearing-in for the new CIA director, Leon Panetta, at the intelligence agency's headquarters in Langley, VA, where he was cheered by employees.
Biden said as one of the agency's "leading customers" that he demanded the "unvarnished truth." He said that the CIA must "look around corners" and "imagine the unimaginable."
And the vice president underscored that a hallmark of this administration's foreign policy and diplomacy would be engagement, which he characterized as "active and aggressive."
In his remarks, Panetta said he wanted the agency to re-establish a working relationship with Capitol Hill. And he vowed, "We have to be honest."
Panetta also said that he was grateful that Deputy Director Steve Kappes was staying on in that role.
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From NBC's Chuck Todd
Vice President Biden will not leaving for Munich straight from Williamsburg, VA as originially planned, according to White House sources. He's now coming back to DC to help with last-minute sales pitches for the stimulus plan.
*** UPDATE *** Per NBC's Savannah Guthrie: Biden IS GOING straight to Munich, after all. There was some confusion, but here is the deal... According to White House sources, there was some discussion of keeping Biden here until Senate vote was done. However, they've now decided to have Biden travel on to Munich as planned.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Libby Leist
Vice President Biden administered the oath of office to Hillary Clinton at a State Department ceremony -- and momentarily botched the oath by tripping over his words, but made a quick recovery (even though the crowd had chanted, "Get it right" before he even started).
The formal ceremony duplicated a private swearing-in in her Senate office after she was confirmed Jan. 22.
This time, her husband Bill, daughter Chelsea, and mother Dorothy Rodham jointly held the bible, as four previous secretaries of state (Baker, Kissinger, Eagleburger, Albright) and many Clinton supporters looked on.
As Clinton expressed her gratitude to her family members individually, she paused -- clearly searching for the right words to thank her husband. Grinning, she ended up thanking him for a life full of "all kinds of experiences." The crowd laughed, somewhat awkwardly.
Clinton also expressed surprise and wonder that she and Biden were in that circumstance -- Biden being VP, swearing her in as Secretary of State. "Life has a funny way of unfolding," she said.
Especially when it comes to politics.
"Just days before they move onto new jobs and challenges, Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton took to the Senate floor to bid farewell to their colleagues," the New York Times writes. "And, perhaps not too surprisingly, both displayed well-known personality traits -- Mr. Biden’s chattiness, Mrs. Clinton’s attention to detail -- in addition to effusively praising their colleagues and the Senate."
Clinton "thanked her staff, talked about how the club known as the Senate finds common ground, and expressed gratitude to New York voters who took a chance on her eight years ago. Clinton talked at length about the days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: seeing exhausted firefighters emerge from the rubble, smelling the acrid air, pushing for money for the recovery, getting to know victims' families. She implored senators to bring that same commitment and cooperation to working with the new administration. When she finished, she received a standing ovation and was greeted with hugs and handshakes."
"Joseph R. Biden Jr. offered passion and Hillary Rodham Clinton offered mostly prose as they said their goodbyes to the Senate Thursday to take up top posts in the Obama administration," the Washington Times writes.
The AP on Biden’s speech: " 'I may be resigning from the Senate today, but I will always be a Senate man,' Biden told his colleagues in a rambling half-hour speech. 'Except for the title 'father,' there is no title, including 'vice president,' that I am more proud to wear than that of United States senator.' It's fitting then, that Biden's new job as President-elect Barack Obama's second-in-command will return him to the chamber as soon as next week in a different role -- as Senate president and its chief tie-breaker."
Biden’s successor in the Senate, Ted Kaufman, gets sworn in at 11:00 am ET, NBC’s Ken Strickland notes.
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